Attack of the small screens: Africa eyes mobile gaming boom

A delegate plays an as-yet unreleased brawler game, called Shattered Realms, at Africa Games Week, one of Africa's most significant electronic gaming expo's on November 28, 2018, in Cape Town. - This event brought game developers from various African countries, together with some representatives from the international gaming companies, and other people interested in the games industry. Many other African developers are also opting to tailor games for mobile devices instead of traditional consoles like PlayStation or desktop computers, leading to a surge of handheld innovation on the continent. (Photo by Rodger BOSCH / AFP)

An army of humans laid waste to an alien colony as South African videogame maker Simon Spreckley enthusiastically controlled the action using his phone's touch screen. 

"The penetration of mobile devices in Africa is huge. People often have two or three phones, which is pretty crazy," said Spreckley, 40, who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with "Brute", a four-armed muscled alien from the game.